تذكار القديس انطونيوس البدواني/13 حزيران موقع قديس اليوم
وُلِدَ هذا القدِّيس في مدينة لشبونه، عاصمة مملكة البرتغال سنة 1195، من أسرة غنيّة، تقيّة. ولمّا كبر دخل رهبانيَّة القدِّيس أغوسطينوس وصار قدوة للفضيلة والعلم فيها لا بل عَلَمًا من أعلامها. غير أنّ أهله عارضوه في دعوته فنقل إلى دير آخر. وفي ديره الجديد، زاد تفرغًا لعبادة الله واقتباس العلوم. ثمَّ نقل إلى رهبانيَّة مار فرنسيس. وحضر مجمع رهبانيته الذي عقده القدِّيس فرنسيس. وفي سنة 1222 رُقي الى درجة الكهنوت وخطب الخطبة المعتادة، إطاعة لرئيسه، وكان لخطابه وقع شديد، فأمره القدِّيس فرنسيس بإلقاء الوعظ. فتهافت النّاس لسماعه فارتدّ بكلامه كثيرون من الخطأة والكفرة إلى التوبة. وانتُدب إلى علم اللاهوت في مدن كثيرة من إيطاليا، وفرنسا، فطارت شهرته بعلم اللّاهوت كما بالوعظ، وقد أجرى الله على يده آيات باهرة.
ثمَّ سار إلى بادوا وعكف على إلقاء المواعظ. واذ كانت الكنائس تضيق بالسَّامعين، كان يعظ في السَّاحات والحقول. ومع كثرة أعماله هذه الرَّسوليَّة، لم يكن ينفكّ عن ممارسة أنواع الإماتات والأصوام والصَّلوات، فسقط كالجنديّ في ساحة الوغى، وأسلم روحه بيد الله في 13 حزيران سنة 1231 وهو في السَّادسة والثلاثين من عمره. وانتشرت عبادته، فعمَّت الدنيا. وهو الشّفيع للملايين. والناس يلتجئون إليه، خاصّة، في أخطار الغرق وضياع الأشياء. وقد أحصاه الكرسيّ الرَّسوليّ، بعد وفاته بسنة، في مصاف القدِّيسين في عهد البابا غريغوريوس التاسع. صلاته معنا. آمين.
Saint Anthony of Padua Saint of the Day/June 13
The gospel call to leave everything and follow Christ was the rule of Saint Anthony of Padua’s life. Over and over again, God called him to something new in his plan. Every time Anthony responded with renewed zeal and self-sacrificing to serve his Lord Jesus more completely. His journey as the servant of God began as a very young man when he decided to join the Augustinians in Lisbon, giving up a future of wealth and power to be a servant of God. Later when the bodies of the first Franciscan martyrs went through the Portuguese city where he was stationed, he was again filled with an intense longing to be one of those closest to Jesus himself: those who die for the Good News.
So Anthony entered the Franciscan Order and set out to preach to the Moors. But an illness prevented him from achieving that goal. He went to Italy and was stationed in a small hermitage where he spent most of his time praying, reading the Scriptures and doing menial tasks. The call of God came again at an ordination where no one was prepared to speak. The humble and obedient Anthony hesitantly accepted the task. The years of searching for Jesus in prayer, of reading sacred Scripture and of serving him in poverty, chastity, and obedience had prepared Anthony to allow the Spirit to use his talents. Anthony’s sermon was astounding to those who expected an unprepared speech and knew not the Spirit’s power to give people words. Recognized as a great man of prayer and a great Scripture and theology scholar, Anthony became the first friar to teach theology to the other friars. Soon he was called from that post to preach to the Albigensians in France, using his profound knowledge of Scripture and theology to convert and reassure those who had been misled by their denial of Christ’s divinity and of the sacraments. After he led the friars in northern Italy for three years, he made his headquarters in the city of Padua. He resumed his preaching and began writing sermon notes to help other preachers. In the spring of 1231 Anthony withdrew to a friary at Camposampiero where he had a sort of treehouse built as a hermitage. There he prayed and prepared for death. On June 13, he became very ill and asked to be taken back to Padua, where he died after receiving the last sacraments. Anthony was canonized less than a year later and named a Doctor of the Church in 1946.
